Delegate’s Report to Area Assembly, November 8, 2020
The last weekend in October was a General Service Board meeting weekend. For the second time ever, it was fully virtual. Here are some highlights:
It was decided that next years General Service Conference will be virtual. Reasons why include – the use of public transportation to get to the event has the potential to expose people to Covid-19 and if even one person gets infected on the way, it could turn the GSC into a super spreader event. The demographics of attendees tend to be at risk people. The rules that would have to followed such as mask wearing at all times, not talking during meals etc. were best described with “Can you even imagine a world where AAs complied with this?!” On the plus side, the 2021 GSC will be the typical length (April 18-24) and will incorporate lessons learned from the 2020 GSC. So who knows? Maybe next years conference will be the best one ever!
The Grapevine is facing some challenges during this time. Book sales are down and there’s a decline of La Viña subscriptions (due to the cancellation of large-scale Spanish events which is where people tend to subscribe). They have withdrawn approximately $250,000 from the Subscription Liability Fund.
In the Spring of 2021, La Viña anticipates publishing the book “Voices of Women” – in Spanish and Grapevine plans to publish a Prison Book, titled “Free on the Inside.”
Grapevine continues to explore using Instagram (for daily quotes), new YouTube content, and the possibility of developing a series of podcasts.
For those looking for a way to perform 12th Step work via Grapevine’s Carry the Message (CTM) project, members can purchase gift certificates for those in need (i.e., loners, A.A. members in prisons, treatment or in remote communities). CTM is especially important during times when face-to-face 12th Step work becomes a challenge. Since January, over 421 CTM gift certificates have been processed. So 421 people received subscriptions from folks they never even met.
Our final insurance settlement for the cancelled International Convention was $2,152,134. That’s pretty much what we asked for. Since we incurred some of these expenses, after we pay out the remaining expenses, the balance will be distributed to the General Service Office, AA World Service and Grapevine to cover in office expenditures (i.e., salaries, lost revenue from sales and registration, legal fees, etc.)
The General Service Office continues to “fire on all cylinders” even with the unprecedented Staff reduction due to the retirement incentive program. One retiree is back already, as the Interim International Desk Coordinator (which wasn’t her position when she was there before)
A My Portal task force (which includes past registrars) is reviewing results of a survey that went out to area registrars to capture the requests for how the system should work/who does what. My Portal 2.0 launches Dec 14th – with testing first, later this month. There will be a new “Position” created for an Alternate Registrar. That person will be provided with the same capabilities for inputting/extracting data as the Area Registrar if requested by the Area (usually only a registrar is allowed the login information.) Delegates and DCM’s will be provided ‘read only’ My Portal access at the Area-level.
International Translations Activity:
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Russia (Tatar) translation of the Big Book was submitted for final review
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Indian (Oriya) translation of the Big Book has final approval pending for issuing a license to print and distribute in India, and
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Final printed books of the newly re-translated Ukrainian edition of the Big Book, printed in Ukraine, have been received.
Corrections: Many committees have developed lists of inmates and have been writing to those inmates in their local area since can’t go in. GSO is making some inroads to digitally provide inmates with pre-approved items; however, the approval process is case by case, prison by prison.
Sign up for the eastern USA/Canada Regional Forum is now up on aa.org. It’s Saturday, December 4th. There is no cost to attend and ASL will be available.
Archives:A possible new History Book – tentatively nicknamed AA Comes of Age, Volume II, is under consideration. Several topics mentioned: The Contributions of Women in AA; Growth of AA Overseas; the Illustrious History of those Early General Service Conferences; unpublished photos, etc. This is an idea that’s been around for many years, but it’s currently getting some traction.
Work is underway updating the pamphlet “A.A. for the Black and African-American Alcoholic”
What was going to be the International Convention’s souvenir book remains on course for publication on February 14, 2021, with a digital presale flyer on course for later in November 2020. It’s titled A Visual History of Alcoholics Anonymous: An Archival Journey.
General Service Office 8thFloor Renovation: Even though the work is complete, our GSO site remains closed. But staff have relocated Archival materials from a more expensive storage facility to this space, to save costs.
Based on the independent auditor’s recommendation, in kind donations will be reported as a footnote on our financial statements. This will include things such as PSAs and AdWords. AdWords is currently on “pause” for technical reasons.
Big Books had been on back order (about 2,000), so a new print run of 9,000 books was run and they’ve now been sent out. The Big Book summer sale was a big success
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5,188 total orders were placed
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Saw increase in sales for: ASL Big Book, Abridged Pocket edition, Large Print, Navajo Audio CD set, as well as several international translations,
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$2,088,227 in gross sales were generated
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The final day of the months long sale yielded $171,823 (love that – waiting til the last minute is so us!)
So, the Big Book Special Offer was so successful we sold out and had to print 9,000 additional big books!
Grapevine magazine sales are tracking fairly closely to the updated budget, but sales on other GV books are down. But December is usually our best month for sales, so we may hit our numbers.
The revenue split between gross profit on literature sales vs. contributions last year was 58% publications/42% contributions. This year it’s about 38% publications/62% contributions.
So far, they’ve only taken $1 million of the $1.5 million authorized from the Reserve Fund for the 4th Quarter drawdown. It’s possible they won’t need last $500,000. Depending how you calculate (using a typical/past budget, or a new “austere” budget) our Prudent Reserve is somewhere between 7.06 and 7.67 months.
We got our full 2020 General Service Conference hotel deposit of $65,000 back!
NERAASA is the last weekend in February. Registration is $21. A video is up on AACNY.org. Go to NERASSA.org to register. You should go!
The GSO general manager will be leaving Feb 1st. The search is on for his replacement.
Nominees for the new chair of the General Service Board and several trustee and Non-trustee director positions have been made and will be voted on at next years GSC. Areas/regions nominate regional trustees – General service board selects general service trustees and non-trustee directors. John W was renominated for AAWS Non Trustee Director.
Be aware the Meeting Guide App WILL accept online only meetings.
Respectfully Submitted
Barb – Area 47 delegate
